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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28823424">Bored</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/theleakypen/pseuds/theleakypen'>theleakypen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Leverage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Heist, Missing Scene</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:08:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>449</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28823424</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/theleakypen/pseuds/theleakypen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>“Yeah, well, I stole the Hope Diamond.”</p>
  <p>“What?”</p>
  <p>“Yeah, and then I put it back. Yeah. Because I was bored. Didn’t care.”</p>
</blockquote><p>Leverage, Season 2, Episode 1</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Bored</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatydidWrites/gifts">KatydidWrites</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Happy birthday, Katydidwrites! You asked for something Parker-centric, so here it is. &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Planning the heist still carries the same thrill as it always does: scoping out guard rotations, evaluating the schematics for their new security system (laughable, even with the increased bandwidth to support a greater number of security cameras), visiting the museum as a paying guest… Parker loves this part, and it’s good to stretch her muscles in this way, relying on no one but herself. She practices lifts and plants in between marking intervals on her sketchpad — snagging wallets out of unsuspecting pockets and returning them before the inevitable visit to the gift shop with the marks none the wiser. People are <em>oblivious</em> when looking at exhibits. </p>
<p>When she finishes her reconnaissance she heads to the paleontology exhibit. Dinosaur bones are so weird and cool and have nothing to do with her work. Parker wonders if she’ll ever be called on to steal a stegosaurus or something. That would be an interesting logistical challenge.</p>
<p>The heist goes exactly as planned, not a variable out of place, and then the Hope Diamond is in her gloved hands, that perfect steely blue glittering in the dim glow of the National Museum of Natural History’s after-hours lighting. She caresses the gold chain of the setting, the smaller gems surrounding the diamond itself, and wills herself to feel <em>something</em>. It’s the <em>Hope Diamond</em> — it’s exchanged hands more times than she can count, there’s a weight of legend to it beyond the actual physical weight of it in her hands, and she’s stolen it from under the eye of the premier natural history museum in the land. She should feel proud. </p>
<p>She feels bored. </p>
<p>Ever since she left Archie’s tutelage, she’s worked alone, and she’s loved working alone. She does love working alone. Or she did, until that golden year, last year, when she worked for the first time with a team. Her grip on the diamond tightens. She wishes she had them in her ear right now — Nate’s cool assessments, Hardison’s exuberance. She doesn’t <em>need</em> backup for this, but she wishes she had Eliot at her back anyway. Even Sophie — even when it all went wrong last year, Sophie came back and fixed it, put on a climbing rig even though it terrified her and let herself fall. Nobody had ever come back for Parker before. </p>
<p>“Shit,” she whispers, and puts the diamond back in its case. </p>
<p>She retraces her steps, resets the cameras from the looping footage of the empty hall of gems and minerals, and heads back to her current D.C. bolthole. </p>
<p>When the next rotation brings a guard into the room, the flashlight sends rainbows refracting from hundreds of gems. There is no sign that anyone was ever there. </p>
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